1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control system/method for controlling start from stop operations of a semi-automated mechanical transmission system of the type automatically implementing selected gear changes but requiring manual operation of the vehicle master clutch during start from stop operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fully automated mechanical transmission systems are known in the prior art as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,361,060 and 5,099,711, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Gear butt and/or gear buzz sensing control logic for fully automated mechanical transmission systems is known in the prior art as may be seen by reference to above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,099,711.
Fault tolerance logic routines for automatic and semi-automatic transmissions are known in the prior art as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,922,425, 4,849,899 and 4,899,279, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Semi-automated mechanical transmission systems which automatically implement selected shifts but require manual operation of the vehicle master clutch during start from stop operations are known in the prior art as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,648,290; 4,888,577 and 5,042,327, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
While such semi-automated mechanical transmission systems have been well received, they are not totally satisfactory as, under certain start from stop conditions, a gear butt condition may exist without knowledge thereof by the vehicle operator.